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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://thegrayzone.com/2025/09/27/they-will-attack-max-blumenthal-irans-president/">thegrayzone.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">\u2018No doubt they will attack\u2019: Max Blumenthal meets Iran\u2019s President in NYC - The Grayzone</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Max Blumenthal</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">September 27, 2025</div>
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<br><h3>In a meeting with US antiwar figures,
Iranian Pres. Masoud Pezeshkian forecasted a more intense round of
conflict with Israel and the US, and slammed Washington\u2019s intransigence.</h3>
<p>Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived late to a September 24,
2025 meeting with American antiwar figures on the sidelines of the UN
General Assembly. He had come from a fateful tete-a-tete with Emmanuel
Macron, where he attempted to cajole his French counterpart into
delaying expiration of the JCPOA nuclear deal rather than instituting
snapback sanctions. Pezeshkian\u2019s lobbying was fruitless; the Europeans
had already decided to ratchet up the economic war on Tehran. Meanwhile,
Israel was preparing for another attack on Iran with American support
practically guaranteed.</p>
<p>\u201cNo doubt they will attack Iran. And we will defend ourselves
vigorously,\u201d Pezeshkian declared to his audience of about 25 antiwar
journalists, activists and think tank analysts gathered inside a
conference hall in a Midtown Manhattan hotel. A camouflaged bomb squad
stood watch outside the room, while grim-looking federal agents paced
the halls.</p>
<p>The session consisted of two rounds of questioning and comments from
participants, with two rounds of responses from Pezeshkian. The format
lent itself to generalized answers, with some of the more pointed
questions seemingly lost in translation.</p>
<p>I opened the first round by referencing a <a href="https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/09/23/755594/ayatollah-khamenei-rejects-talks-with-u-s-">speech</a>
delivered a day before by Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, in which he branded negotiations with the US as something \u201cno
honorable nation would ever do, and no wise statesman would ever
endorse.\u201d</p>
<p>\u201cAccepting negotiations under such threats would mean that the
Islamic Republic of Iran is susceptible to intimidation. If we were to
negotiate under such threats, it would mean that we tremble and
surrender whenever threatened,\u201d Khamenei proclaimed.</p>
<p>I asked Pezeshkian if these statements were reflective of his
administration\u2019s view, and if he believed that Trump had exploited the
last round of nuclear negotiations to lure Iran\u2019s leadership into a
false sense of security that made it vulnerable to Israel\u2019s unprovoked
attack.</p>
<p>Following a battery of questions from other participants, the Iranian
president blasted Trump\u2019s diplomatic tactics: \u201cThis was not
negotiation, it was dictation,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>\u201cSomeone should have recorded what [Trump\u2019s Middle East envoy] Steve
Witkoff said,\u201d Pezeshkian continued. \u201cHe says one thing to us and all of
the sudden he returns to Washington and says something else. How can we
negotiate with someone like that?\u201d</p>
<p>Pezeshkian referenced a book which he believed articulated the fundamentally destructive nature of US foreign policy. Called <a href="https://press.umich.edu/Books/M/Making-Endless-War2" rel="">\u201cMaking Endless War,\u201d</a> the
volume is a compilation of essays analyzing the Vietnam war and
Arab-Israeli conflicts which argue that wars for resources and
geopolitical control have become a permanent component of post-war
American diplomacy.</p>
<p>Seated beside Pezeshkian was his Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragchi.
Visibly tired from days of wrangling on snapback sanctions, Aragchi
recalled how Israel detonated an explosive inside the Natanz Nuclear
Facility in 2018, destroying some 4000 centrifuges. While Iran increased
its enrichment levels in retaliation, he emphasized that it continued
the negotiations which Israel had sought to sabotage.</p>
<p>Even today, Aragchi said, \u201cWe are willing to be flexible if we can get appropriate action in return.\u201d</p>
<p>Yet the Foreign Minister and his team would leave New York without
any concessions from the Europeans. Snapback sanctions were \u201ca done
deal,\u201d according to Macron.</p>
<p>For Iran\u2019s leadership, the West\u2019s intransigence had given Israel the
green light for another attack. But Pezeshkian noted that Iranian
society was stronger following the 12-day war last June. \u201cThe last
attack brought unity,\u201d he insisted. \u201cIranians opposed regime change even
if they disagreed with the revolution. Even people who criticize us,
those people supported our military.\u201d</p>
<p>Pointing to Israel\u2019s brazen assault inside Qatar this September,
where it tried and failed to assassinate the entire Hamas negotiating
team, Pezeshkian predicted, \u201cCohesion will increase across the region
because our neighbors recognize that nobody is safe now.\u201d</p>
<p>During Israel\u2019s assault on Iran, the president narrowly escaped an
attempt on his life. \u201cThere are plans that if they take me out\u201d when
Israel attacks again, \u201cwe have prepared five to six steps down the line.</p>
<p>Vowing that Islamic Republic was ready for all contingencies,
Pezeshkian sounded a confident note: \u201cIran is not Gaza. Iran is not
Lebanon. Iran is not Syria. Iran is something different.\u201d</p>
<p></p><p></p><p></p>
<p>Q</p>
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